Reborn
by upnorth
Summary: A story based on the show. It takes place in the first season. Its a work in progress.
1. Reborn 1

**_Reborn_**__

**_Chapter 1 _**

"This looks better than I could ever dream of." I thought as I walked through the corridor. It had the aroma of wet paint mixed with seaweed. My dream of an underwater city came true. Well, almost, it is not as big as I wanted it to be, but then, those were the restrictions given to me by the Australian government.

The city, called Orca, is named after the Oceanographic Research Centre Australia. It is a joint venture between multi nations, and the private sector to build various research labs, both underwater, and land based around the world. This one is located in the Great Barrier Reef, and is the first of its kind.

Other underwater labs were nothing more than large tanks tied to the bottom, and tethered to its life support on the surface. This is built out of many large spheres, connected to each other by various passageways. There is a new security system. It prevents unauthorized personnel into certain areas via the use of barcodes, magnetic strips on Id cards, and by retina or fingerprints. At maximum capacity, it will be home to approximately 300 people. These include, lab technicians, maintenance crew, and their family, and the support staff.

Although there is a platform on the surface, if it was disconnected, the city could function normally. The platform is an old oil drilling platform, cleaned up, and given a new look. The platform can hold up to 20 large boats (30'-50'), over 30 PWC, and has a hanger that can hold 2 full sized helicopters. These vessels are all stored inside of various garage like structures, all watercraft are dry docked to prevent damage during rough seas. The helicopters are raised and lowered on the their respective helipads, and the roof, comes over the top like a clam shell.

One of the many questions everyone asks is, how do you get posted to Orca? The simplest way is to apply. If you are tops in your field, we will find you. Many people ask about children. Can they come aboard, or is it for adults only? It surprises people that we have many facilities that are centered around youth. They include school, and various recreational facilities, all with the needs of the youth in mind.

There is a uniform for Orca, however it isn't enforced. You could see someone in the uniform, or a swimsuit, or even a wetsuit walking through the corridors. The uniform is cotton shirt and bottom - shorts or pants. The colours are lime green, yellow, and blue. These colours are for ensuring that the city doesn't have the feel of a battleship. Bland colours are shunned. Even the wetsuits, and swimsuits must be of those colours. All clothing was provided at no charge. Swimwear was provided, and was a certain style to allow proper movement. The women and girls wore a one piece style, and men and boys wore a racing brief style.

One of the things most people notice is that all of the seams and portals on the exterior of the spheres leak. They were designed to leak. If they didn't, they would blow out, causing the sphere to be scuttled. On average, in the lower compartment of every sphere there is as much as 100 litres of water. This water aids in reducing the buoyancy of the sphere. There are two pumps in each sphere, each pump can pump out about 2000 litres per minute. The water that enters the spheres, is filtered, then desalinated so that it could be drank. In any given minute there is about 1000 litres of freshwater, and about that same amount of salt water in the city.

The electricity is supplied by many methods. First, there is the 1000 solar panels attached to the platform. They supply mainly the platform's needs. On the platform there is also 4 large windmills. On the ocean floor there are over 100 current mills. These miniature windmills use the ocean's currents to turn the blades of the mills. As a last resort there are five 10,000 MW diesel generators.

Everyone must be able to swim well, and be able to use snorkel equipment. Adults must additionally be able to use scuba equipment. All youth go for stroke improvement classes. When they arrive, they also are taught scuba. The average person who has been onboard for over 3 months can swim to the mainland, which is over 50 kilometres. There is a yearly contest among the inhabitants, a race - to the mainland. It is separated by male and female, and also by age - under 18, and 18 and over.

The city is divided into 4 sections. They are; the mechanical, the labs, recreational, and living quarters. Mechanical includes things like the generators, the desalination plants, and the sewage plants. Besides the research labs, there is also the school located in the same area. In the recreational area, there is various games rooms, a indoor 50 metre swimming pool, and the diving well. All cabins are located in the same area. Generally they are as far away from the mechanical area as possible.

I walked to my cabin, looking at the details of the corridors. I walked through one of the gangways that connect each sphere. It was all plexiglass. You can watch the fish swim by, and not get your feet wet. I slid my Id card through the door sensor. The new barcode cards will be put in before the first real habitants arrive. The door automatically opened, and I stepped in.

The room was tricoloured. Near the floor it was green, the ceiling was yellow, and everywhere else was blue. The main room had a kitchenette, and a sitting area with a video screen, which is also connected with the video communications. All rooms have a video phone setup. These can be turned to audio only for privacy reasons. There is a washroom, that has both a shower, and a bathtub. There is either 1, 2, or 3 bedrooms. Most cabins for families have only 2 rooms, one for the adults, and one for the youth. Mine was a one bedroom style, one of the larger ones.

I put my things where they belonged, and proceeded to the platform.

Part 2

I slipped back into reality. That was nearly a year ago, but most things haven't changed. I now am in charge of the mechanical aspects of the city. We had our first typhoon 2 weeks ago, and survived without any damage.

I climbed out of the ocean, and up on the docking platform. I didn't feel like cooking this morning, so I headed to the mess hall. I was still dripping wet from my morning swim, but I decided I was more hungry than cold. It was over 35 Celsius outside, although, with the light breeze, it felt cooler.

In ORCA the temperature and humidity was set up such that I didn't feel cool. The climate controls are designed that it could freeze out there, and you would be comfortable in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

As I walked through the passageway one of the resident of the city asked, "So, how was the swim?"

"Not bad, but I think I'll go earlier. I'll start at sunrise, and swim towards it." I responded. I proceeded to the mess hall, which was in the living quarters. They were the top row of spheres. There are 4 rows.

In the mess hall there weren't many people here, not at this time any ways. Lunch is the busiest time. Almost everyone is in here, except fro the night crew. With about 150 people on board at any given time, this place is never quiet.

I finished my meal, and headed up to the bridge, the center sphere on the first level

"Sir, do you have the list ready?" I asked the commander as I walked in, still in my swimsuit.

"Yes, mostly the usual maintenance. Also, can you check why all of the faucets on Alpha level, 4-2 are pouring out water and soap at the same time." Commander Berkas told me chuckling at the idea.

The levels of spheres are labelled alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. Each sphere is numbered 1 to 4 according to its position relative to true south. Sphere 1 is closest to true south, and the rest are in according to a clockwise numbering system. Each sphere has up to 6 levels depending on what is in the sphere. The living quarters have six levels, the recreation area has two levels, the research labs have four levels, and mechanical has two.

"What was it last week, somehow sugar got into the water system for all of alpha one? I think while im at it I will check with security about installing more cameras and infrared cameras" I responded.

For the last month we have had glitches appear in various things from having helium mixed in with the air supply to having the lights connected with all switches in the sphere. It is never in the same place, and it is all annoying things, nothing damaging. At least not yet.

I grabbed the PDA, and headed to the lockers. The lockers held everything that you might ever need. I grabbed a pair of chemical resistant coveralls - rubberized coveralls that prevent anything to get between it and your body, and a PAST - personal air supply tank, unlike a scuba set up, this has a regulator and hose connected to a small tank that will last about one hour. I also grabbed a chemical mask. I put them on, then proceeded to the only access point before the water heads to the spheres; nicknamed the water tank.

I opened the door, walked along a metal mesh gangway to the pump controls. All of the various gauges were reading as they should. I walked along the gangway, looking for tampering on or near any pipes, especially those leading to the affected area. Everything looked as it should, which is very odd. The only other place that it could have been tampered with is outside the spheres. Which of course means a swim outside.

I headed back to the locker room, changed out of the clothes I was in. I hung the air tank back up, unused. I grabbed my wetsuit, and scuba gear, then headed to the dive well.

The dive well is designed to permit people to enter the water without diving from the surface, or to enter a pressurised chamber. ORCA is pressurised to prevent implosion. Various levels are at various pressures. The dive well is actually 3 chambers. The first from the inside is a mini compression/decompression chamber. This brings you to the pressure of the sea from the pressure of ORCA. The second one, is a dry well, the opening to the sea never gets above a certain level. The thirds chamber is outside. It allows emergency closing off of the area. With the latest technology, it takes less than five minutes to go from the outside to the inside of the station.

"Anything interesting going on out there?" I asked as I got into my dive gear.

"Aside from the normal stuff, no." the dive instructor responded.

"Has anyone noticed anything unusual? Something on one of the spheres?" I asked him.

"No, why?" he asked.

"Something weird is going on. Things don't work as they are supposed to." I tried to explain.

"Do you have any idea as to whom may be doing these things." he asked.

"No idea, but I will find out" I told him. I put the regulator in my mouth, then slid into the water.

The water was crystal clear, typical of the area. While under construction special blankets designed to filter out particles were used. They were in the shape of a box that went from the sea floor to the surface, nearly 50 metres. Fish swim rather close to the city. It isn't unusual to see fish come as close as one metre from yourself.

I swam towards the affected sphere. There are small access panels on each sphere to allow repairs to various systems. The panels are difficult to remove, for the first time at least. A good way to tell if it has been tampered with would be if I get it off easy.

The diving well was on gamma level, which meant that I had over 20 metres to swim. All portals are designed to allow you to look out, but not look in. All spheres are labelled, so all I would have to do is look for A4.

I swam around to the access point on A4. A special tool is required to remove the fasteners. The panel was 40 cm by 40 cm, too small for me to climb in. Actually, to small for just about any one to go through, except a small child. The panel had a small chain that prevented it to drop to the abyss below. I removed the last clip, and the panel fell off, stopped only by the chain.

"Someone has been in here," I though as I reached for my flashlight. I shone my light into the area inside. It had various panels. The area inside was about one metre cube. On either side was electrical cables, which looked fine. The top was video feeds, which looks how it should. The bottom was for sewer, which looked fine. The back was for the water supply. The panels that covered it was not sitting right. I grabbed my reaching hook, and opened the panel.

I could not believe my eyes. There was a four litre jug attached to one of the hoses labelled 4-2. "How in the world did that get here?" I muttered to myself. "This is going to be interesting to remove."

I swam back to the diving well.

"Shut off the water for Alpha 4-2, and re route the water supply from 4-3" I said to the commander over the intercom when I got into the diving well.

"Pardon me? What was that?" The commander came back.

"Someone has connected a jug of soap in the line. It will be a while till I can get it out." I responded.

"A repair crew has be dispatched." the commander informed me.

As I was walking to my office I tried to figure out how someone could get that in there. It was designed to not allow access, except for robotic equipment. We have one, but its has been out of commission for about 2 weeks. If someone did get in, they would have to be small, smaller than most kids. I typed in the criterial into HELEN, the computer, and had it list the results with the smallest first.

The first one is Jake Reilly. The "computer wiz", nicknamed Froggy. Waist size 6. I brought up all information on this child. Camera views, equipment usage, even how many times he was out of the city. The most recent time that he was out of the city was 30 hours ago, about the time that the problem arose. He had used his wetsuit, a pair of goggles, a PAST, and his swim fins. He went out diving with Brett Bates who used simular things, except he had a proper diving mask and a proper breathing apparatus. I decided to pay our frog a visit.

Part 3

It was early evening, and the computer confirmed my thoughts that he would be at his cabin. I walked up to his door, and rang the chime. The door opened, and his father was standing on the other side.

"May I help you?" he asked me.

"Mr. Reilly, may I speak with your son, Jake. " I ask him.

"Hold on" he said, walked a way, and called for his son.

"How can I help you?" Jake asked me after running from his room.

"I need to speak to him regarding something. Is it ok if he comes with me to my office?" I said to his father, then showed my ID card that said that I was with the officer staff.

"Sure, I guess, how long?" Mr Reilly asked.

"I doubt longer than a half hour. " I told him.

His father nodded his head, and we left headed to my office.

"What would you like to talk about?" Jake asked me.

"I'll tell you when we get there, Jake." I told him.

"Call me Froggie, everyone else does." he informed me.

It took less than five minutes to get to the office. Once there he sat across from me at my desk. I punched a few things on my computer. Then I looked directly at him.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me?" I asked him.

"No," he said quietly.

"If you tell me now, your parents may not find out." I informed him, trying to let him feel like it was in his best interest to talk.

"I don't know what you are talking about, sir." he told me.

"What size pants do you wear?" I asked.

"Six, why?" he said.

"Well," I started. "Someone, about your size has sabotaged the water system."

"Do you have proof of whom did it?" he asked, rather hesitant of what my answer might be.

"I have enough that would cause the persons involved, plus their families to be removed from ORCA." I informed him. "One call, and 2 children, and their families are gone. I don't want to do that, but if you have information I might be more lenient." I tried to persuade him.

"How lenient?" he asked, sounding interested at the possibilities.

"Well, the 'lucky' persons, would assist in removing the equipment. Their parents wont even be involved. They may not even find out." I told him, hoping he would do what's right.

"They'd find out. Parents have a way of finding out." he told me.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked.

"Ya, you are the person in charge of the maintenance of this place." he said.

"Yes, but I am much more. I actually designed and built this place." I told him.

"Ya right and I am superman." he said.

"Fine, if you don't want to be of assistance, I will bring these files to the commander. I suspect you, your family, and Brett Bates, and his family will be taking the next boat back to the mainland." I told him, giving up on the niceness. He was not going to help. So why give him the chance out of trouble?

Froggie sat there for a moment, and didn't say a thing, he just looked at the ceiling, feeling upset that he had to betray a friend, to ensure they didn't leave.

"We did it." he said quietly. "We hooked up the container to the water supply. Please don't tell my dad, he'd kill me if he found out." he said, disheartened for the things he just said. "Please don't tell Brett I told you, he was just my safety diving buddy. He didn't do anything 'cept make sure I didn't drown."

"He may not have hooked it up, but he did more than what you have said. He got the bottle. He got the clamps. And he got the schematics for the water system." I told him, showing that I DID know what was going on.

"What will our punishment be?" he asked, scared of what I would say.

"Have you and Brett meet me in a half hour in the diving well with you swim suits on. We will fix the problem. I will inform both of your parents that you and him are assisting me in business related to city safety. Something that I can not do. I will make it sound good, not bad." I reassured him.

"Ok," he said.

"You may leave." I told him.

I called both parents, and informed them that their child was needed to assist with a city repair, that we could not do without them. Their parents, hearing this, were more than willing to have them assist.

I was standing outside the door to the diving well in my swimsuit. I heard two children talking as they approached. As they came closer, I saw it was them. They were dressed as I had requested, in their swimsuits.

"Ok, now what we will be doing is you two will remove everything you put in the water system and I will be there if something goes wrong. I will be making sure that you do as you are supposed to." I told Froggie and Brett as we walked into the change rooms. They both nodded, not wanting to say anything. I put on my wetsuit, and helped both of them to get theirs on. I then helped Brett put on his breathing apparatus. As he did it up, I put mine on. Froggie grabbed for his PAST, a pair of goggles, and internal nose plugs. He put the nose plugs in, then put on his goggles, and we all walked to the entrance to outside.

"Brett you go first. Then Froggie, you go. I'll follow. Wait for me outside." I said to them.

"Ok," they both said. And with that, Brett put his regulator in his mouth, and slid into the water. Froggie put the mouthpiece of the PAST into his mouth, and dove headfirst into the water. I put the regulator into my mouth, slid into the water to meet up with them.

They were waiting for me. We swam up to the panel, that I had left off.

"Ok, get into there, so that you can remove the stuff you put there." I told them over the intercom. Froggie took off his PAST, and placed it into the access room. He then pointed his hands inside as Brett pushed him slowly inside. He allowed himself tu curl up so as to not take up space. There was barely a few centimetres clearance around him and the frame of the access room, and him. Once he was in fully, he wriggled around so he was uncoiled. He reached for his PAST, taking a much needed breath.

Brett passed him a small bag that had some tools that they had used; a couple screwdrivers, a hammer, 2 adjustable wrenches, and a few locking plyers. Froggie proceeded to shut the waterline off. He then disconnected the hoses leading into the sphere. He also disconnected the hoses leading in from the water supply. He removed the venturi connector, a device used to mix a liquid with another on a high pressure line. He passed the venturi connector, with the soap container still hooked up to it to Brett. He put the tools back into bag, then passed those to Brett. He put his PAST down, and pointed his hands out. I pulled him out slowly, careful to avoid him getting caught on the sides of the panel frame. Once out, he reached in, and grabbed his PAST, put it in, and took a much needed breath. They both assisted me in closing the access panel, and we headed back in.

The boys came out of the dive well ahead of me. They waited until I came out.

"We are sorry that we did that." Brett said to me.

"Lets get out of our wetsuits, and we will talk about that." I said as we headed to the change area.

We put our wetsuits away, and we headed up to my office, in our swim suits.

"Are there any other 'incident's' I should be aware of?" I asked them when we were sitting in my office.

The looked at me, scared of saying anything. Then Froggie looked at me and said, "What do you mean?"

"Well, we have had many things occurring that are simular to this, in which, the things done were annoying, but not too damaging. Did you two have anything to do with it?" I asked.

They said nothing.

"If I was to go back through the computer's logs, would it be a coincidence that you two were around the area, and had access to the things used to cause these problems?" I asked.

"Well..." Brett started.

"Things may look that way, but.." Froggie continued, but trailed off.

"But what? If I have to go digging in the computer to find out the truth, I will, but your parents will find out. And, if anything ever happens again, you two and your families will be escorted off the city. I don't want to do this, but I need to ensure the safety of everyone aboard." I explained to them.

"If we say things to you, your not going to say anything to our parents? They'd surely find out." Brett told me.

"They don't know the truth about this. They think that we need your help to fix something that we can't, and its not a bad thing, or caused by you. Everything else, they don't know about. Not yet at least" I told them, knowing full well that they did some or all of the things that I have been fixing for the last month.

They looked at each other, then they looked at me and Brett asked, "what are the things, and we shall tell you truthfully if we had anything to do with them."

"Well, the first thing happened about a month ago. Some how the helium tanks were connected to the air supply, and the air mixture was changed to lower the amount of nitrogen in the air, not affecting the oxygen amount. Did you have anything to do with this?" I asked.

"Yes," They said in unison.

"Did it cause any damage?" Brett asked me.

"A couple of people came down with headaches, but nothing serious, or long term." I told them. "What about hooking up all of beta 3 lighting system so all lights would turn on, or off when anyone would turn on or off any of the switches? Did the two of you have anything to do with it?" I asked them.

"Yes, we did do that too, we didn't mean to do any damage. Was any damaged done?" Brett told me.

"No, just a lot of annoyed people. You are lucky that they don't know who did it. I don't know what they would do, but it wouldn't be nice" I told them. "Now, what about sugar? Did you two do that too?"

"We hate the taste of the water, we thought it would make it taste better. It did, so I guess we were half right, that it would do what we wanted it to." Froggie told me.

"Are there any things that I don't know about?" I asked them.

"No, not yet..." Brett told me.

"...and it wont happen. We wont have this conversation again. If we do, the two of you will be on the next boat out." I cut in. "If you promise me that you wont play any pranks, or do anything to anything I wont tell your parents. I will make a log of this, but keep it confidential. Ok?" I asked.

"Yes, we wont do anything again. Please don't tell our parents." Brett said. Froggie nodded his head in agreance.

"You are excused. You may go back to your cabins. I don't want us to have this conversation again, I don't want anyone to have this conversation with you. Am I clear?" I asked sternly.

"Yes" they said together.

"Thank you for not telling our parents." Froggie said.

"Ya, thank you sir." Brett said as they walked out.

"We are lucky." Brett said quietly to Froggie when they were just out of view of me.

"Boys will be boys," I muttered to myself as I turned and looked back to my computer. I entered the information into the computer, shut it off, then headed out the door to my cabin.

Part 4

That was my life, it always would be my life. I have no children. I am not married. I have no desire to have either, because, I am all most 45, and I feel that I would be too old to raise kids. I can barely keep up with the 50 or so kids here.

Not that I am saddened by it. I just have no desire. This city, the people in it, and the many cities simular to this one, they are all my children. My work is what I will be remembered for. I don't need a family. I see my sibling, whom are all over the world, at Christmas. We go to whomever turn it is. My parents are long gone, natural causes.

My sibling's children love me. They have spent many a summers here. They are like me in certain ways. They love the water, they love sea creatures, and they love natural beauty. When I visit, they can always expect something from the area.

I have 2 sisters and a brother. I am the oldest, my brother, the youngest, lives in Britain. He drives truck for a major company. He loves the company, and loves it there. My youngest sister lives in California, just outside of Los Angeles. She commutes an hour to and from work each day. She makes twice as much as me, but has less happiness. When she comes here, she has told me that it is too slow. I guess that she is too used to the hustle and bustle of big city life. Sidney is too slow for her, and I find it too busy. My older sister lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She loves it there. They live in the country. She has her own business. A small restaurant, it makes good money, and she loves the work.

And then there is me. When I was 25, I got the first job I could get on a tanker leaving Vancouver's harbour, headed for this area. I got here in two months, one oft he worst rides I have ever been on, but they were paying me over $3000 a month, expenses paid. Once here I work as a forklift operator in Sidney harbour. In my spare time, I came up with the drawings, and the plans to build this station. I would take weekends and learn the area. I would learn how to scuba, and how to surf. Being from Edmonton, I never thought I would be surfing. It was rather fun.

My plans finally reached the senate, for a review to see if it could be permitted. They past the amendment to allow it on my 33rd birthday. The best gift I have ever received. The money to get it built was another thing. To come up with the roughly 20 million to build it would be difficult. I contacted all research companies that were involved with oceanography, the study of the ocean. Most would give about one million, providing that I allow them to post some of their scientists onboard. I gladly said yes. I still needed about half, or $10 million. I headed to major governments, the Australian, USA, Canada, Great Britain, China, Japan, France, Spain, and The Netherlands. All gave about one million each, providing that they could post people here as well.

They had started construction when I was 39, and took three and a half years to complete. During those years, I live out of a boat moored to the platform. If a storm was predicted, such that it would be unsafe for me to stay here, I would head to shore, and life in what is now the land base for this city. My office was able to be occupied when I was 43 and I was glad when I was able to finally stay underwater. Here there is a certain calmness. Even if the seas are the roughest in 30 years, even if there is a war going on. Down here is immune to that.

People working down here do it for many reasons. The biggest, is the fact that you have the Great Barrier Reef with in a twenty minute swim, or a five minute boat ride. With in a twenty kilometre radius of the city is over 35 islands, most are less than one square kilometre. There are 5 that are over one square kilometre. One is so big that is may become a resort, if certain companies have anything to do with it.

Since the beginning, we have about two typhoons a year. The latest one was a category two. Not the worst ever, but worst this has seen. No damage was done. And underwater, you couldn't tell if there was something going on. That is the good thing about down here, storms will do damage to things above, but we don't get any of the problems down here.

We are not in the Great Barrier Reef. We are about a half kilometre away. We were not permitted to build closer. Greenpeace hates us because we are so close. One time they were given a tour, and to their surprise, this place is built better than the boats that they use to travel around with.

I have lived a good life. A hard one, but a good one. I remember of the many dreams I would have as a kid. A beautiful ocean that I would call home. Kind of odd coming from someone who grew up on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Since I was two, I could swim, by ten, I could out swim anyone on my swim team. Most people thought I would become an olympian, but, well, that is kind of hard to explain. No money to go further, no chance to get better. I was working at 18, doing over 70 hours a week, just to make ends meet. I put myself though college, and university studying aquatic biology. I graduated with honours, but could not find a job in that field. So, I pack up what I needed to survive, and headed to Vancouver to make my childhood dreams come true.

I sipped on my tea, relaxing and reminiscing on the past.

"I think I ll go for a swim." I though. I put on my swim suit, grabbed my swimming goggles, and my towel. Then I headed topside.

There are four beacons place one kilometre away from the platform. They are at true north, south east and west. My swim was always to one, and back, going to each. On average it would take about an hour and a half to do all eight kilometres.

The water was calmer than normal. There was no wind, which was very unusual. I put my goggles on, climbed up to the top of the one story building and dove in, heading for true north. The drop was about 15 metres to the surface of the water. I made a perfect entry into the water, and started swimming.

I had just gotten to the north beacon, and started to head back. I had about three quarters of a kilometre to go. I started to feel something weird. It was as though the water got extremely cold. It was like I was shivering, but not a cold induced shiver.

I barely made it to the edge of the platform. I grabbed the edge, pulled myself to the intercom, and pressed the emergency button.

I passed out.

more to come 


	2. Reborn 2

Chapter 2

I regained consciousness, sort of. I could hear things, but they were muffled. I could see thing but it was all blurry. I couldn't move. I tried moving various parts of my body, my legs, my toes, my arms my fingers. I even tried to move my mouth. Nothing. What was happening to me?

I went into and out of consciousness many times. I couldn't figure out how long I was awake or unconscious for. It could be seconds, or hours. For that matter, I could be out for days, or months. I didn't know

I regained consciousness. I rolled on to my side. I rolled onto my side, I actually moved. I still couldn't see. I could hear things better, but not by much.

"Can you hear me?" the female nurse asked me. I did not respond as I could not hear her.

"I don't think he can hear me, yet." she said to the doctor. "He may be ok, we'll have to just wait and see."

Several hours passed and my condition improved. I finally could tell where I was. I was in the Sick bay, on board ORCA. The people caring for me, I knew. They are some of the best in their respective fields.

The nurse, I personally hired when this place opened. She is from Switzerland. She has a family, three children, I think. She has been a nurse for 10 years. She has all the qualifications for a doctor, but doesn't have the actual paper from the medical community.

The doctor, well, she is from Japan. She came here about a year ago, hired by the administration on the mainland. She is good, she is amazing with all personnel. The biggest complaint I get about her, is that she actually forces everyone to have the required medical checkups or treatments. Her specialty is the muscles and bones, two things that always gets damaged here.

"If you can hear me nod your head." the nurse said as she looked at me.

I hear something. I think she wants me to nod my head. I nodded my head.

"I think he can hear me." the nurse told the doctor.

"See if he can tell you what he is able to do. See if he can talk." the doctor told the nurse.

"I am going to find out what you can do. Nod if you understand." the nurse said to me.

I nodded.

"Ok, can you say anything?" she asked me.

I shook my head sideways.

"Ok, nod as many times as to the number of fingers I am holding up." she said as she put up three fingers.

I nodded three times.

"Put you left hand on my right elbow." she said to me.

I did.

She looked at the doctor and said "It looks like he just can't talk. When he regains his strength, we can find out what else may be wrong. When will the tests be back?"

"It will arrive with tomorrow's mail." the doctor said.

Several hours later as I woke up after passing out I muttered, "What is today?"

The nurse turned so quickly to look to me, that she knocked over a hospital tray. "Did you say something?" she asked.

"Yea," I said slowly. "What is today's date? How long have I been out?" I asked.

"It is Monday evening. You have been out for 3 days" the nurse told me.

"Three days!!" I said, shocked at the length. I though maybe a day or two, but three, almost four days. That wasn't good, I thought. "What is wrong with me." I asked.

"We don't know yet. The tests should be here tomorrow morning. I will go and get you something to see if you can eat. Ok?" she informed me.

"Yes, please. That would be good." I said.

As she left, I started to cry, thinking about how bad this appears to be. Almost 4 days out, and they have no idea what is wrong with me. They have some of the best equipment here. The equipment here rivals that of most major hospitals around the world. If they could not figure out what it is, and had to send it to the mainland, it was very serious.

The nurse entered the room carrying a bowl. "Here, try this." she said as she passed the bowl to me.

Red Jell-O, my favourite. I ate it slowly, allowing it to slide down my throat. I was given some water. It felt good, as my mouth, and unknown to me, my throat was very dry.

I fell asleep, knowing that soon I might know what is wrong with me.

Part 2

"This doesn't make sense," the doctor told the nurse. "This disease is not in any books. It hasn't even been named. This had to be sent to Atlanta Georgia, in the USA. They have had 10 instances of this type. They only ones who survived are younger than 15. How will we tell him." she asked the nurse.

"We? Why should it fall into my responsibility? What about the mainland doctor. He knows her. Rumour has it they go way back." the nurse informed the doctor.

"We can try. She sounded surprised that it was him that this was for." the doctor said as she headed for the video phone. She punched the number in, and within seconds the mainland doctor was on.

"How may I help you?" the mainland doctor asked as she came on.

"Well, we were wondering, since you know him, and since he knows you. We would like to know if you could tell him about his condition." the doctor asked.

"I guess I could, its been a while since we have seen each other face to face. I just wish it were under better circumstances. " the mainland doctor said. "I ll take the next boat out." she paused as she looked away. "On second thought, there is no way I can make the next boat. It leaves in 1 hour. The one after that leaves in 5 hours. I'll be on that one." she confirmed as the screen went blank.

"Well, now we have to hope that he doesn't wake up for a few hours." the nurse said jokingly.

I woke up of and on during the next 12 hours, eating a bit, and getting re-hydrated. Whatever was affecting me sure did a lot of damage. I have no energy. I feel weak, weaker that I have ever felt before. Time passed and I slept, ate, drank, and slept some more.

"Boy, that was a rough boat ride." the mainland doctor, Linda, said as she stepped onto the docking platform.

"That is normal. Shall I have someone take your things below?" the nurse asked.

"Sure." Linda said. "So how is he doing?"

"He is slowly regaining his strength. He has been up and walking around. He is just very weak." the nurse said..

"He will know something is up if I am there." Linda said.

"Well, we figured something like this required some history of how to deal with this. He knows you better than anyone of us." she said. "Didn't you two go to college together." she asked.

"No, we went to Dalhousie University in Halifax. Me, it was for a doctorate in medicine, him, well, marine biology. I never thought his dreams that he told me about would ever come true. It sure looks good." Linda told the nurse as they were going down the lift.

"You are the mainland head doctor, and you have never seen here? Why not?"she asked.

"I guess it all boils down to time. I was so busy that I didn't make the time. However, I made the time. I know when I get back, there will be stacks of paperwork for me on my desk, and even more email than I could get through. I hope you are connected to the main computer. It will ease the load when I get back." Linda informed her.

"Well, I'm sure he will be glad you are hear. You might even be able to comfort him if he cries again." the nurse said.

"He cried?!? he hasn't done that for years. Probably since he lost his girlfriend in university. It devastated him. He nearly failed his last year." Linda said.

"What happened?" the nurse asked.

"He never told you?" she asked as the walked into the Sick bay.

The nurse shook her head. "Hey, have you ever been told about his girlfriend in university?" she asked the doctor.

"No, I didn't think he ever had any." the doctor said.

"He did, and well, I think it is why he never married." Linda told them. "Like I said, it was during his last year of university. He had a girlfriend, since he was really little, around 5 or 6. Well, they loved each other. They were a match made in heaven." she paused.

Part 3

"It was a Friday evening. Joanne, her name, I think. She was coming over. She lived about an hour up the Trans-Canada highway, a treacherous stretch of stupidly designed route. Well, like I was saying, she was heading to spend the evening with him. She left at 9 pm, it never takes longer than an hour. He called at 10:30 pm to find our where she was. She didn't answer her home phone, and there was no answer on her cellular. He got worried, but left a message on each to have her call him when she got the message." she paused.

"He was watching the local news at 11 pm with me, and what he saw sent him into tears. They showed live breaking news. And what it was about was something that tore his world apart." She paused.

"They showed a car, the same as what his girlfriend drove. And they even showed the licence plates that were still attached to the car. They were Alberta plates, and the combination was her's. They were not releasing details till they contacted next of kin." she paused.

"The details given on the report was that a drunk driver crossed the 10 metre median, and hit her head on. She was doing the speed limit of 100 km/hr. The drunk driver was doing about 200km/hr, at least that was their guess. She was killed on impact. Her car had rolled nearly 10 times and was still enveloped in flames." she paused

"What he did next scared me. He got up, put his shoes on, and headed out the door. Within minutes I hear screeching tires, and I look out the dorm window to see him flying across the field headed towards the main street. I didn't know what he was going to do." she paused.

"He called me about 3 hours later. He ran his truck off the road, and he was at a police station and wanted me to get him. I did." she paused.

"On the drive back, he told me how he totalled his truck. His truck was one of those really old ones, not much crumple space. He was telling me that he had it with his life going so harsh. And he figured he would take the easy way out. The police officer who was the first at the scene had told him that the only thing that saved his life was that he had his seatbelt on. The cab of the truck broke off and skidded, upside down along the highway. The frame was, well, it was twisted in such a way that the rear bumper, which was a large steel I beam, was upside down, but there was no damage to it. In the middle of the frame, it had completely twisted, it was such that the engine, transmission, driveshaft, rear end, and box were untouched. The cab snapped off where it attached to the frame, which was the twisting point. Being so old, there was no way to fix it." she paused.

"The next month was miserable for him. After graduation, which surprised us that he actually graduated, with honours to boot, he said that he will walk this world alone. He had no interest in marriage, or even companionship. She was his one true love, and he lost her. So, he picked up the pieces of his life, and moved on." she paused.

"He couldn't find work. So he did what most of us never expected. He sold off everything, except his clothes and his laptop, pack them into a bag, and hitched hiked west. It took him one month, and more than $500 to get to Vancouver. He got hired onto a container ship headed to Tokyo. He then got onto a tanker ship to Sidney, Australia. He then obsessed himself with getting this built. Now this is his love. He doesn't want to lose it. That was the last time he cried. He knows what is happening. He knows more about medicine than you might think. He already know something bad is happening, which, actually will make my life a little bit easier." she paused.

"Honestly, I am the closest that he has to what him and his girlfriend has, but we never pursued it. I don't know what I am going to do, but a job is a job." she finished, then turned to head out the door.

She paused at the door, and said, "I'm going to get something to eat. When he wakes up, call me." and with that, she walked out.

Part 4

I woke up, and within minutes, my good female friend, Linda was in front of me.

"Long time, no see." I said, happy to see her.

"I wish it was on better terms. I have some bad news about what is happening to you." she said, with some reluctance.

"What is it?" I asked fearing the worst.

"You have developed a rare case of cancer. One so rare that it has yet to be named. There is a cure, but...." she trailed off.

"But what??" I asked, fearing that the cure may be worse than what I was going though.

"You are too old. It is only effective in people who have yet hit adolescence." she said.

"What? So, it is curable, if I was young, like under 12?" I asked, shocked.

"Well, no, probably around eight, nine may be too late, but, you are not that old, and so there is nothing that can be done." she said.

"How long?" I asked.

"That you have had it, or till it incapacitates you?"she asked me.

"Both. How did I get this, is it heredity or is it localized to just me?" I asked.

"You have had it all your life, its just been dormant. We don't know what brought it out, but as it seems, it was your age. Every adult that has it, has it comes out at around your age." she paused. "A person with your signs last no more than 3 months. Most last about a month."

she paused. "I wish I could give better news."

I looked down at the floor. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't figure out what I would do with the remaining time that I have.

"If you would like, I can have the city's counselor come by for a visit. I doubt she would have a problem with doing that." Linda asked me.

"Yes, sure, what ever you think would be best." I said, not interested in anything, anymore.

"Why don't you take some time off, relax, enjoy the time left." the doctor said.

"How soon can I return to work?" I asked.

"You are in no shape to work. What happened earlier, could happen again, but could be worse. I am suggesting that you not work alone. Would that be ok?" Linda asked.

"Sure, just promise me that I won't work with someone who won't appreciate me." I requested.

"Not a problem. It will be arranged when I leave. If you don't have a problem, I would like to leave as soon as I can." she said.

"Take the next boat out. I will keep in touch." I said as I got up, and walked, still dressed in my swim suit, to my cabin.

It was an odd walk to my cabin. My legs were rubbery. I had no stamina. I would have to stop every couple of metres to rest. It took more than double the time that it would normally take to get to my cabin.

I walked in and grabbed a book, and decided to take the doctor's advice and relax. A good book would do fine. The book was about a space craft that crashed into a planet, and it is explores the struggles that the crew face to survive, and eventually leads to their escape, and return home.

I fell asleep part way through the book.

I woke up, walked over to the shower, removed my swimsuit, placing it over the drying rack, and walked into the shower. I set the water to a comfortable temperature and pressure. "Aww, this feels amazing" I thought to myself. The water flowing over my body, was not only doing what most think its for; cleaning. It was actually washing away my sadness. As the water flowed, I thought of the good in my life. The 20 years I spent with the woman of my dreams, the next 20 years, fulfilling my dreams that I didn't think I could do without her.

If heaven exists, I will spend eternity at her side, living all of the dreams I still have not fulfilled. In my after life, will be in effect heaven, in all aspects.

I snapped back to reality, I got on my uniform, and headed to the bridge to receive the list of things that I was to do, and meet my new assistant.

Part 5

"What do you mean that I am not permitted to work!?" I yelled at the commander.

"Sir, please calm down. The orders came directly from the president and CEO of ORCA, Janet Myth. She had said that the reports from the mainland doctor, Linda, I think, were enough to for her to override her decision. There is nothing I can do."

"Ok, she wont like what I do, when I am through with her." I apologized to the commander, and pulled out my Video Cellular phone. "Topside" I spoke into the phone.

"QM's office, topside. How may I help you, sir?" a person said over the video phone.

"Get my PWC ready. I should be up there with in a half of an hour. Thank you." I said.

"Yes sir, it will be ready." he said to me.

"Bye" I said, and shut the phone off.

"Where are you going?" the commander asked.

"To pay Janet a visit." I said as I walked off the bridge.

I headed to my cabin. I packed all I would need for a couple of days into a dry bag. I took my uniform off, I put another swim suit on. I reached for my wetsuit, and the approved PWC PFD and put them on. I pulled out my phone, and dialled up mainland comm, the main terminal that services the city.

"Have my truck waiting and gassed up for me at the dock. Personnel number 200-001." I said to the person at the comm station.

"200-001, confirmed sir. ETA?" he asked me.

"About 20 minutes. Thank you." I said.

"Your truck will be waiting at dock 2, slip 32 in 20 minutes, 8:35 am, Zulu time" he confirmed.

"Thank you, and out." I said as I shut the phone off. I grabbed my dry packsack, put it on securely, and headed topside.

My PWC was waiting for me when I arrived topside. I got on it, slid my card to activate the safety override. I turned the key. It started. I put it in forward, and gunned it, aiming for mainland, some 50 kilometres away.

Most PWCs are limited to 100km/hr. Mine is souped up. Its cruising speed is 145km/hr. I had it at 175 km/hr the whole way. The seas were anything less than smooth. The speed I was reaching was causing me to bounce from wave to wave. Water was splashing up all over me, but it didn't deter me from going fast.

I got to the wharf within 20 minutes. I slowed down to the 'raise no wake' limit. I headed to dock 2, the one that all PWCs moor at. As I got closer to the slip, I saw my truck, a ancient beast of a thing. It was over 30 years old, but ran better than it did off the showroom floor. I pulled up to slip number 32. Once I had the PWC close enough to reach the dock, I grabbed for it, and pulled it close. I shut the engine off, and tied up the mooring rope to the dock. I stood up, feeling the water pour off me, and stepped onto the dock.

I walked to my truck, opened the passenger door to the cab and put my pack on the seat. I then took out a pair of sandals and a t shirt. I took off my wetsuit. I reached for my towel in the pack, dried myself off, and draped it over the back of the passenger seat. I reached for a hanger in the back of the cab of the truck, and hung my wetsuit on it, which I hung on a eye hook mounted to the roof of the truck. I put on the t shirt, and sandals, closed the passenger door and walked around to the drivers door. I opened it, and got in, doing up my seat belt as I closed the door behind me. I started the truck, and headed to town, en route to ORCA headquarters

To be continued in Chapter 3


	3. Reborn 3

Chapter 3

Part 1

The town, Port Douglas, was quite small, population of just over 3000. It is nestled just off the major north - south highway. The highway, a 4 lane route connects the north and south parts of Australia on the east coast is about one kilometer away from town. There is only one traffic light in the town, and it is where the marina road/the old military road crosses the old highway, which is now just known as Main Street.

To the south of town, on part of the beach, you will find a beach home, well more of a hut. It looks like no one has lived in it, but that's not quite true. It is mine, and every year, for at least a week, I stay there. It is a nice break away from my home on ORCA.

I headed up the old military road. It is called the Flatts road. It is anything less than flat. This truck, a 30 year old behemoth of a archaic machine is one of the best things for the road. It has a ground clearance of over 1 metre. It is 4 wheel drive, with the biggest mud tires I can fit. They are almost taller than me. It also has the largest production engine in it. Thankfully it has power steering. It only has a am/fm radio. It doesn't have power windows, power locks, automatic transmission, a/c or any other luxuries. I had all windows open since the temperature outside was 35 C.

I passed the 4 laned highway, headed into the outback. The ORCA complex is located on the old Flatts military camp. It is about 100 kilometres north west of town, as the bird flies. By road, it is more like 200 km. The road is not paved beyond the highway. It is usually not smooth either. A grader usually comes through it once a month, but as I drove along, I doubted it. Even with large tires, there were parts of the road that I bounced around in. A sign at mile marker 47 scared me.

The sign, looking like it had been here since we first occupied the camp, said "Bridge out -- keep right" and below it there was a homemade sigh that said "road impassible during rainy season."

"Damn it," I thought. We were in the middle of the rainy season, and I've heard its been particularly wet. I drove along the detour for about a kilometer. I saw what the homemade sign meant.

The road crosses a river. In the water I could see old oil drums with 4 meter poles welded to the top of them placed every couple of meters apart. It was kinda a marking system. On each pole was numbers painted on. They looked like height from ground in meters. The river was at least 50 meters wide. In the middle, the lowest number that could be seen on the poles was 3. It looked like the water level was at about 2.5 meters. I thought about the truck I was driving. The ground clearance is 1 meter, the exhaust pipe is at about 1.5 meters off the ground, but the intake is a lot higher. There is a "snorkel" that extends past the top of the truck - a full 3 metres off the ground!! I would be sitting in water, well kind of. The seat is just over 2 meters off the ground, but my head, and most of the steering wheel would be still out of water. I got out of the truck, took off my t shirt, and put it and everything else in my dry bag. I got back in, wearing only my sandals and my swim suit.

I dropped the truck into 4 low, and put the transmission into first gear, and slowly approached the bank of the river. I shifted it into second, and sped up to about 20 km/hr. The truck shook violently as it crawled through the river. Bearly 1/4 the way out the water started to come in the cab of the truck. At the half way point, the water covered most of the dash, and I was getting worried that it might be deeper than I thought.

I pushed on, knowing that I had only forward to go. The river bottom was relatively smooth. Except for the odd rut it was almost better than a paved highway. There is little of a current, at least not noticeable. I kept going, the water slowly drained from the cab of the truck. It even cleaned the floor.

As I drove out, I shifted it into a higher gear. As soon as I was on dry ground, I shifted it back into 4 wheel drive high, and drove off.

The rest of the road wasn't very eventful. The road was relatively smooth. The road ends at a ramp underground and a door.

I pulled up to the door and slid my card through the slot . The red bulb above it turned off, and the green one turned on. The door began to open. I slowly drove forward. Once the door opened fully I slowly drove in. The clearance was about 1 cm above my light bar - the roll bar that I attached lights to for driving off road. I drove the truck as slowly as I could to avoid hitting anything.

I went down to the second level. It has a bit more clearance, but not by much. Most of the vehicles were SUVs there were a few cars and minivans, but even fewer trucks. Everyone who has an office at this complex has a parking space. Mine is located on the 4th level. The lowest level, 5 is for large trucks doing deliveries, and have a different entrance and access road.

I pulled into my spot, grabbed my dry bag, pulled out my t shirt and put it on. I then proceeded, with dry bag in hand to the elevator.

Part 2

The ORCA complex was an old military installation. The main complex is: a seven story glass encased building, two large hangers, five large warehouses, and 10 barracks. The barracks have been refurbished, and are used as housing for those whom will be on ORCA, and are doing training. The warehouses, two are used for warehouse purposes, to store things. Everything from light bulbs, to generators, to large steel plates are stored in these warehouses. The trucks bring them to the parking garage, and they are offloaded on to a tram, which takes the cargo underground to the warehouse. There are tram tunnels underneath the complex, effectively making it unnecessary to go outside. The other three warehouses, and one of the hangers are all for research and development. The other hanger is where helicopters are stored. Airplanes are useless to the company since they can not land at ORCA. And then there is the glass building.

The glass building is the main building. It used to be encased in brick, with small old windows. It is a steel structure, so it was stripped of its brick, and covered with windows. It has made the offices feel more open. It also saves on our electricity. We use half as much as the old building did. It is seven stories high, however, the top two stories are one. They are a combined meeting boardroom/cafeteria/arboretum. The light that comes in is just like being outside, but without the harmful sunburns.

I have an office in this building. It is on the 5th floor, in the northwest corner. As I am almost always on ORCA, my office is rather stark. It has a computer, a desk, a chair, and not much more. I permit it to be used as a temporary storage. If they don't have space for something, it can be stored in my office.

I headed up the elevator to my office.

I was expecting not to be able to get into my office, but was surprised that the only thing that was being stored inside was some plants that have just arrived.

I sat down at my desk and turned on the computer. The main network in the Complex is very similar to the one on ORCA. Once turned on, using your ID card, you can access everything that you could on ORCA.

I looked up the location of Janet Myth, the President of ORCA. It appeared that she was in a meeting with the other stock holders. I headed towards the Boardroom, where they were meeting.

"The contract for the constru...." one of the board members started.

I threw the door open mid sentence, and said "Janet, we need to talk, NOW."

She looked over towards me and responded "We are in an important meeting. Can't this wait?"

"Listen, we either talk now, or this company is closed tomorrow. I still own fifty-seven percent." I pointed out.

"Well, since you put it that way, what would you like?" Janet asked, annoyed at my words.

"Why did you cancel my return to work in ORCA?" I asked her.

"Well, uhm, how to say this..." she started. "You are ill, with as I understand, a terminal illness. I am only thinking of your best interests."

"What right do you have to tell me what to do? I built this company from the ground up. I WILL NOT be told that I am unable to work with my colleagues. If I was, or I become unable to perform my regular duties, that would be different. " I paused, looking at the other board members. "Janet, you have till 4 O'clock today to confirm your decision. I will find you at that time." I turned towards the door, opening it, and paused. I turned to the board members and said "Good day." I closed the door behind me.

Part 3

I headed to the elevator which would take me to the Tram station. All building on this complex have an underground Tram station. The tram can hold up to 20 people and over 20 tons of cargo. The trams are electric, and their batteries are charged by solar panels. It is the most environmentally friendly transit system on the mainland.

I decided to pay an old friend a visit, whom happened to work in Research and Design. I haven't seen him for about 3 years. Once the tram stopped, I got on headed for RD2 - the lab that he worked at.

After the 20 minute ride, I got off, and headed to his office. His secretary directed me to the hanger, which is the pool. I headed back down to the tram, got on, and headed to the pool.

The Pool is larger than any other indoor pool. It is 250 metres long, 100 metres wide, and 15 metres deep. With in one day, the water can be changed form chlorinated fresh water to ocean salt water. The sides of the pool can be moved to create waves. The floor can be raised up to make the pool only one metre deep. This is the facility that all minsubs are tested. This is also where you can go to get SCUBA training.

He was at one end off the pool, playing with his latest design, a single person, high speed extreamly agile minisub. It was REALY mini, looks like it would bearly fit a child.

I walked over to him. Tapping his shoulder I said "Don't fall in."

"Hey, what are you doing here. I thought that you were on ORCA?" he asked.

"Nope. I had some 'business' to take care of." I responded.

"How are you feeling -- rumor has it that you have some sort of illness." He said.

"I do have something, and no, Josh, you cant catch it from me." I said to him, knowing how he is a borderline hypochondriac.

"What is it? Or do you even know?" He asked.

"The scientists do not know. It is very rare." I told him.

"Luck would have it that you, of all people would get it." He said chuckling. "So... would you like to know what I am working on?" he asked as he pointed at the minisub.

"Sure, what exactly is it?" I asked.

"Well, it was going to be a scaled down version of a minisub that we were planning to build, but..." he started, pointing at the sub. "...uhm, we found something interesting once we ran the tests, and put it into a computer, and changed some of the dimensions, to get it to the size that we wanted. We found something interesting. When we ran the simulations we found that the speed was half, and the maneuverability was nearly a quarter of what this model is capable of."

"How fast can this model go?" I asked.

"We haven't had it at its maximum, but we have had it up to about 150km/hr."

"150km/hr!!! How is that even possible? The fastest minisubs out there can bearly do 50km/hr." I said, shocked at the speed.

"We didn't believe it ourselves, but it did that, in this pool. It also can maneuver like nothing else can. We can have it hug the walls, about 10cm away from the wall..." He explained "...and this at speeds in excess of 40km/hr."

"Wow, and you want to put that in a child's hand? Are you sure that would be wise? Have you had it actually tested by children?" I asked, curious at the possibilities.

"Well, I have not had any child volunteer, so no. The children on ORCA should be just whom would be a good candidate to use this. Think about it, no more diving needed. Now all you need to do is climb in, and you are safe from all of the dangers of the oceans." he said as he maneuvered the minisub our way. He pulled it up to the edge of the pool, and leaned over the edge, towards the top of the minisub. He put his hands on either side of a circle on the top of the minisub. He pushed his hands down on 2 rectangular shaped metal covers, that hid the handles for the hatch. The hatch swung upward, and was hinged at the front. The hole it revealed was bearly my waist size. I doubted that I would fit inside.

"As you can see, it is not large enough for an adult - I have had to do some work on the interior. As I said, it can seat 2, if you had to, you could get an adult inside."

His watch started beeping. "It's lunchtime. Would you like to have lunch with me?" He asked as he stood up.

"Sure" I said. We walked off to the elevators that would bring us to the trams.

Part 4

The atrium almost feels like you are outside. Trees, plants, and even a waterfall with a river that has small fish in it makes most people swear they were on one of the many islands near ORCA, not stuck in the Outback.

When I first saw it, it was nothing but cubicles. Now, it is amazing. People use this place to unwind, to eat, and even to work. The transformation of this building took nearly one year. The building was originally 5 stories high. The roof was taken off, and they added an open floor, all that was encased in glass.

The food, was not normal to a cafeteria style atmosphere. What you had was selection of dishes that are native to the area. Also, you can eat what is available on ORCA. Various fishes, crustaceans, and a wide selection of kelp is just some of the food. You can still get a steak, or a hamburger, but those items are less popular.

We headed back to the research lab. We entered a storage room, where various projects are kept when not being worked on, or tested.

"This is what we want to get to, when it comes to human interface with a sub." Josh said as he pointed to what looks like a wetsuit, with a large cable sticking out the back of it.

"What is it?" I said, confused.

"Well, imagine if you can, that you are in a minisub. Now, these days you flip a couple of switches, move a joystick, and such to get it to do what you want. All of these controls are connected to various servos and solenoids, and motors. So, if instead of 'real' controls, we use virtual reality setup, we save space, and weight. There is the added benefit that if you cant fit into the suit, you can not operate the minisub." he explained "this cable connects to a connector in the seat," he said as he pointed at the cable "It is fibre optics, and is as fast, if not faster than the controls that it will replace.

"What if the cable breaks? Is there any redundancies? Or, like a lot of the things that we get from here, are doomed to fail at the wrong times?" I asked, knowing full well of worst machines, that, had it not failed near ORCA, the people inside would have died.

"We are working on that. Our quality is up, and we wont let this go out unless it is 100 percent safe. Ninety - nine wont cut it." he said in agreement.

"Would you like to try it, in the pool of course?" He asked.

"Sure." I said, wondering what it would be like

He grabbed one of the suits gave it to me and said. "Take everything that you are wearing off, and put this on, as though it was an actual wetsuit. I will get the sub ready"

I walked into a room, undressed, and then put the suit on. I noticed that all over the inside of the suit were little metal things. Once I had it on, I walked out.

"This is a new design for a sub, climb on in." he said.

The sub, was a single seater. It looks like a stingray on steroids. In the middle of the side fins was a tube on each side, which I could only guess was where the propulsion was. The 'tail' was a single piece, and it looked as though it had no rudder. In the center was a clear glass, which lifted off so that you could get into the cockpit.

I got in, connected the cable, and closed the glass. "Push the green button, then put the lens over your eyes." he told me though an ear piece.

I pushed the green button. I felt a shiver go over me. I put the lens over my eyes. It showed me different views of everything. I also noticed controls at my finger tips.

"In front of you will be a large blue button. Press it, and it will activate the mobility controls."he told me.

I pressed the button, and a cockpit setup appeared in front of me. There were 2 pedals on the floor, a airplane type steering control, and a forward/reverse lever. I grasped the steering wheel, moved the lever to forward, and pressed down on the right pedal. The minisub leapt forward at an alarming rate. The minisub accelerated towards the end of the pool, at nearly 50 km/hr. I turned the steering wheel towards the left, the inside of the pool. It did not turn. I tried again, and it would not turn.

"Uhm, how do I turn this thing?" I asked worriedly.

"Turn the wheel" He told me.

"It is not turning, and I can't slow down." I responded, seeing the wall coming closer.

"Uhm, try leaning the way you want to go while turning the wheel. Also, push the left pedal, that is the brake. " he told me.

I turned the wheel to the left, and leaned also. It turned. I felt a slight vibration as I narrowly missed the wall. I had it facing back where I came from. I pushed the right pedal all the way to the floor. I watched the numbers on what I though was the speedometer rise. It hit 120.

"Uhm, how fast am I going?" I asked.

"There should be a blue number in front of you. That is your speedometer. There is a number that is either green, yellow or red. That is your depth." He explained.

"The blue number is 120. Is that right?" I said as I zoomed around the pool.

"That sounds about right." Josh told me.

"Hey, tell me how high I get. I am going to try something" I said.

"What??? Why do I need to watch how high you get? What are you going to do?" He said surprised.

"Just watch, you'll see." I said as I aimed the minisub towards the bottom of the pool. As it reached the bottom, I pulled the steering wheel towards me as I pushed the right pedal right to the floor. As the minisub reached a vertical position, I let the wheel go to the middle, while still pushing the right pedal all the way to the floor. The blue number reached 143 as it shot out of the water. It arched back into the water and made a big splash. I regained control, and pulled it up to the side of the pool.

I brought it to a complete stop and said "How do I get out?"

"Lift your lens, and press the red button. Once you can see, lift the yellow latches near the glass. The glass should raise by itself." he said, rather calmly.

I did all of that, and then stood up and asked "So, how high did I get?"

"About 4 metres." he said, trying to figure out how it happened.

"I have got to get me one of these. I thought my PWC was fast. That is nothing, this is much faster, and even more fun." I said with a wide smile across my face.

I climbed out changed back into my uniform. I said my good byes and headed back to the boardroom to find out my fate, and the fate of ORCA.

Part 5

I walked into the boardroom precisely at 4 o'clock. All of the board members were seated around the table, waiting for me.

"Joe, I have been the president for the last year, and, although we may have our disagreements, I know that all of the things that I have created were with the best of intentions. That is why I have decided to remove my suggestions. You are back to doing what ever you see fit." Janet said to me.

I looked at her. "Thank you for reinstating me." I started. "Janet, for this stun you have pulled, you are fired. Collect your things. Security will meet you at these doors and escort you to your office, and to your car. You have till 5pm to do this." I said with anger in my voice. "Jeff, you are promoted from Vice President, to President. Please don't make the same mistakes as your predecessor, Janet. Good day ladies and gentlemen." I said.

Security was at the door to escort Janet around. I headed for the parking garage.

When I got to my truck, I changed out of the uniform, and put my swimsuit on. I threw my clothes into the cab of the truck. I rolled down the windows, climbed in, started it, and headed up the new exit.

The clearance was about 10cm higher than my light bar. I headed up the spiral leading to the door out. As I pulled up, it opened. I pulled onto the road, which was a four laned paved road, and headed back to Port Douglas.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Part 1

The 4 laned road from the complex to the highway is about 75 km long. Most people travel it at speeds higher than the posted 120 kilometres per hour rate. The average speed is about 175 kilometres per hour. Since it is a private road, and police do not patrol it, the drivers do not have any incentive to slow down.

The size of my truck, it's height, wheel size, and it's high centre of gravity makes extreme speeds unsafe. I brought my truck up to 100 km/hr. The wheels howled at this speed.

I turned the radio on, and found my favourite local radio station. Most stations are either XM, or FM. This one is AM, with the typical reception. This station has existed for more than 60 years.

Most of the cars passing me were quite different to what I am used to driving. About 10 years ago in 2010, when the cost of oil was $200 a barrel, a lot of car companies nearly closed. Cars were not selling. People could not afford the gasoline. What the car companies did was offer all vehicles with a hybrid engine, and even a fuel cell. Nowadays gas is still high, but about 75 of all motorized vehicles are fuel cells.

About 45 minutes later, I came to the highway. If you go straight under the highway, it curves onto the northbound lanes. I was heading south, so I stayed in the lane I was in, which curves to the right. The ramp on the highway is built so you don't have to slow down, in fact, going slow is more dangerous as the speed on the highway is the same on the adjoining road.

The northbound, actually goes west, it curves around the ORCA complex – the complex is over 40,000 square kilometres. When they build the expressway, they wanted to reach as many towns as possible, and having a curve of about 1000 kilometres was one of the things that was needed to have a continuos highway.

I headed south towards Port Douglas. As I pulled onto the highway, I noticed a crosswind, coming from the ocean. I slowed my truck down to 80 km/hr to avoid roll over. If you follow this highway, after about 3000 kilometres you reach Sidney. This highway is a large circle. It is over 20,000 kilometers long, and encircles the continent.

I put on my hazzard flashers, as I was doing about 40km/hr below the speed limit. I had about 100 kilometres to go until I reach Port Douglas. Where my beach house is, is not in Port Douglas, it is about 10 kilometres south of it. The mailing address is Port Douglas. There is no name for the village it is in. There is not even a dot on the map.

I passed the sign for the exit to Port Douglas, and Flatts Rd. The road to my Beach House is 3 exits south. I took the exit. It only heads towards the ocean. The old highway that goes from Port Douglas to Cains is about 5 km away from the new highway.

I came to the old highway. Head north, and in about 10 minutes you are at the town limits of Port Douglas. Head south, and eventually you get to Cairns. My beach house is about 10 minutes south.

Just south of here, you can see it at this stoplight, is one of the best fish markets in this area. The fish and seafood is so fresh, you can order most of it "still kicking", basically still alive. I pulled in and picked up some fish, dead. I prefer to buy mine dead.

I headed out. After about 5 minutes, I pulled on to my road. It is a crescent. On the corner of my road and the old highway is a small grocery store. I stopped there to get a few things, then headed to my beach house.

The crescent is about 5 kilometres long. I am about 2 kilometres from this end. My place has a 2 story house and a garage. The house is an A frame design with the roof going all the way to the foundation. The garage used to be one story, but once I got my truck, I had to raise it, and put in a 4 metre high door.

I reached above my sun visor, and pressed a button on the door opener. The door opened slowly, as I pulled up. I installed 2 lights on the wall of the garage, one green, and the other red. If the door is closed, or is moving, the red light is on, when the door is fully opened, and is not moving, the green light turns on, and the red light is out. If both lights are out, then there is a burnt out bulb.

The light turned green, and I pulled in. On the wall that has the lights, there is a large disk. That disk is connected to a switch that automatically closes the door when the bumper hits it. I hit the disk and the door closed behind me. When it hits the ground, it automatically locks. I grabbed my clothes, groceries, and fish from the passenger seat, and got out of the truck.

Part 2

The garage has a 4 post hoist. I am able to raise my truck off the ground and do any repairs, or modifications to it. There is a large storage area on the right of the hoist. In that area is all the parts taken off when I modified this truck to what it is now. Everything, from the original tires and rims, to the air conditioning system is there. The original engine was a gasoline engine, a small one at that. The one in it now, is diesel. There is even the automatic transmission. Every nut, bolt and bracket is there, most still connected to the part that was replaced. Most parts would take a short time to reinstall. Opposite the storage, right next to the man door are several large tool chests, full of all tools needed to work on the truck.

I pushed a button on my key chain as I walked out of the man door.

Connecting the garage and the house is a small covered area. There are screen doors, and screen walls at either end to keep out the bugs. I opened the door to the house.

Pushing the button on my key chain activates a series of motors that remove the shutters from the windows. These shutters help me avoid damage from various typhoons.

The kitchen, living room, dining room, one of the bathrooms, and the master bedroom is all on the main floor. There are 2 bedrooms and one small bathroom on the second level. There is no basement, although, the hot water tank and furnace are below the house.

The kitchen and my bedroom faces the ocean. I placed the bags of food on the island counter. On the island is a 2 burner gas range, a small sink, and some counter and cupboard space. I grabbed a saucepan that was hanging above the island. I turned one of the burners on, and after placing the pan on the burner, poured a jar of white sauce, and a bag of fresh seafood in. I pulled down a pot, filled it half way with water, and placed it on the second burner, which I also lit.

I walked to the bedroom, placed my extra clothes on the bed. I walked back to the kitchen to finish cooking my meal. I am not exactly a chef, but certain things are my favourite. Back in Alberta, my family was a beef rancher. Anything but beef on the table was unheard of. After I moved to Halifax for school, I tried seafood, and I loved it, almost more than beef.

After my meal, and after cleaning up, I picked up the local paper, and sat down outside on the deck to read it.

A cool breeze was picking up, one that created the perfect surfing waves. As the sun was just starting to set, I decided to go out on to the water.

There are only 2 things that are in the ocean that scares me, Sharks, and Jelly fish. I put on my full body covering wetsuit, a pair of booties, gloves and a hood. I then put on a unique piece of technology, An electronic shark repellent. I am ready to go out on the water.

My surfboard is on a shelf up against the back outside wall of the garage. I carry it to the water, get on it and swim out. I am not that good of a surfer, but you would never know that for the first half of my life, I was a prairie boy. The waves were about a metre and a half high, the size I like.

I played around in the water until the sun set. I floated back in with one of the waves. After getting out of the water, I took off the hood, and lied down on the beach. I looked up at the skies, so clear, and so beautiful, and, so different from the skies I knew back home. Down here, the skies don't have the big dipper, or Polaris.

I headed back into my home, changed, then went to bed.

Part 3

I rolled over, looking at my clock radio by my bed. It read 9:26 am. I stood up and walked to the kitchen. I took down a bowl, poured some cereal and milk, and ate my breakfast.

After getting changed into my ORCA uniform, I picked up my video Cell phone, and dialed the dock at Port Douglas.

"Personnel number 200-001. When does the next boat leave for ORCA?" I said to the phone.

"The next boat leaves at 10 am, sir." The dock manager told me.

"I won't be able to make that one. When does the one after that leave?" I asked.

"They leave every 2 hours. So, after that one, we would have one leaving at noon." He informed me.

"Book me a spot on that one. Have my PWC loaded, and have someone who can drive my truck ready to take it back. Thank you." I told him.

"Will do, see you then." he said.

I shut the phone off, and proceeded to pack my things.

I pulled up to the guard house. I rolled down my window, only to see the top of the roof. I opened the door, and climbed out.

"I was wondering how we were going to talk." the attendant chuckled once I climbed down.

"We should install an elevator" I said jokingly. "I am on the next boat out to ORCA. Here is my ID card" I said as I pulled it out from under my shirt.

"Ok, Proceed to Dock 1, do not drive onto the dock. It is too small for your truck." He told me. He opened the gate as I climbed back up, and into my truck.

I slowly eased it through. I pulled up to Dock 1 just as they were loading my PWC. I parked my truck, and got out, heading

"Decided to take the easy way?"The lead dock hand asked.

"Well, I could have just flew, it would have been faster." I said joking.

"We will take care of it." He said, pointing at the boom lowering the PWC into the hold.

I walked over to the gangplank that is used to get onto the boat. Unhooking the ID card that is around my neck, I pass it over a scanner on the gunnel of the boat next to the gangplank entrance. I have not been on an ANT boat since we opened up ORCA. An ANT boat is a unique boat, ANT stands for Automated Navigation Transport, hence it's uniqueness.

About a year before the pontoon docking platform was to arrive, I ordered 6 ANT boats, from the only supplier in the world, Aussie Boat Works, out of Perth. These new boats were designed such that it did not need a crew. Instead, they used SONAR, GPS, and RADAR to track, and to navigate.

How they work is quite simple. Using the onboard GPS, you input the co-ordinates that you want to go to. You then push a button, and away you go. It was designed to stay out of hostile territory, underwater hazzards, and even severe storms.

They are electric. Solar panels on the top recharge the batteries, however, it can only go about 7 days on that. After that, it requires a outside source charge for about 12 hours. It is twin propellers, with a special steering control. When the boat turns, the propellers change their RPM such that they actually are not turning at the same rate. This, in turn, turns the boat faster, and smoother.

They are all 30 metres long. This may sound large, and even in port, may look large, but it is quite small. There was the option of getting them 50 metres long, but then, we would have had to redesign the wharf to take in effect the length, and the depth. The crew have to manually control the ANT boats in the wharf, as there is less than 20cm clearance when turning.

I headed up to the deck, to have a seat. There is 3 decks that are for passenger occupation. The maximum occupancy is 200.

There are several smaller boats, less than 12 metres long that have been outfitted with ANT boat technology, but they are not considered ANT boats, as the ANT boat label is Trademarked for ABW. Most people on board still refer to these much smaller boats as ANT boats.

"This is the captain speaking. We will be underway in 5 minutes. Please board the boat so we can be under way. Thank you"A female voice called over the intercom.

Some of the people on the dock proceeded to the gangplank. There was a group of kids that boarded, 2 of whom I recognized. I think they are Brett Bates, and Jake O'Reily. Some of the other kids, I have seen before on board, but did not know personally. One, a teenage girl, I did not recognize. Maybe she is new, although, we have not had anyone new for about a month, and we will not be having anyone new for a few weeks.

"I am going to have to look into this." I thought to myself.

"This is the captain speaking. Welcome to ORCA ANT Boat number 3. We will be underway shortly. While underway, please stay in the designated area. There is to be no running, or playing around the edges of the boat. Thank you for your patience, and from all of us at ORCA, have a great day." The captain said.

The boat slowly backed out of the slip, and headed for the main channel inside of the wharf. This is where the tight fit is. She steered the boat towards the exit. As she turned to head out, you could hear the waves splash between the boat and the break wall. The clearance here is about 20 cm.

As soon as the boat was clear of the break wall, the ANT system was activated and we accelerated towards the open ocean.

Part 4

Each ANT boat weighs approximately 5 tons without the engines installed. When construction on them was completed in Perth, they had to get shipped here to Port Douglas. I decided that I needed a break from the construction of ORCA, so I headed to pick them up with my truck. Fifteen tons and 3 weeks to get to Perth and back with 3 boats.

When the construction of them was complete, I drove my truck to Perth to pick them up. Towing 3 trailers behind my truck was awkward. Over 100 metres of moving vehicle was difficult. Braking and even steering was difficult at best. However, after 7 days, driving over 12 hours a day, they arrived.

The engines were shipped to Port Douglas from Sidney. They were the newest hydrogen fuel cell. Now, however, they are 10 year old antiquated almost useless power plants. They have been overhauled many times, about every 2 years. The however still use too much hydrogen.

All the ANT boats cruise at about 25 knots, or about 50km/hr. In emergencies, they can get up to speeds in excess of 100km/hr.

"Attention passengers, we will be arriving shortly. Please gather your belongings." A voice came over the intercom.

The captain shut off the ANT system. She then slowed it down so that it was bearly moving. For something 30m long, it actually maneuvers better than most smaller boats. She maneuvered the boat to the dock. The dock crew grabbed the mooring ropes, and tied them off. Two people slid the metal gangplank onto the gunnels.

"Thank you for traveling with ORCA, please enjoy your stay. Your baggage will arrive at your cabin with in the hour." The captain said over the intercom.

I walked on to the platform, and walked over to elevator. I slid my card over the scanner, and a computerized voice said "Welcome to ORCA" as the door slid open. I got in, and said "Apha 2 - 1". The door closed as the last few came in, and said where they were going.

The door opened on Alpha 1. From this main point, there are 4 walkways, each leading to a different sphere. Each walkway is also labeled so that you do not have to guess. I walked down walkway 2, heading to my cabin. I made my way around the maze to my cabin. I slid my card at the access panel labeled A 2-1-8. The door slid open, and I walked in, with the door closing behind me.

"HELEN, bring up all messages left for me." I said to the computer as I started to empty my back pack.

"Three messages waiting. Do you wish to access them?"the computer asked me.

"Yes" I said as I put the last things away and walked over to my desk to view the computer screen.

"Hey, its me." my brother said. "My family and I are planning to come to Australia. We should be there in about 2 weeks. We would likely be in your area for a couple of days. Contact me so that we can come up with a plan. The kids are looking forward to visiting there again."

"HELEN, mark this as read, but to be responded at a later time." I said. The next message came up.

"Hey Joe, are you still planning to come down to Sidney for a visit?" My aunt asked. She is almost at retirement age. "Your brother mentioned to me that he would be here later on this month. I will see if your sisters are able to come along. Let me know when you can. Bye"

"HELEN, again, mark this as read but to be responded to at a later date" I said as it ended.

"Hey, once you get this, contact me" The Commander said. "We have selected someone to 'shadow' you. His name is Jason Bates. He has been informed that he will be going along with you to observe and learn about the various systems of ORCA. No mention of your condition, or any other problems have been told to him, or his mother."

"HELEN, where is the Commander?" I asked as the screen went off.

"He is on the bridge, shall I contact him and bring it up on the monitor?"The computer informed me.

"Yes HELEN. Thanks" I responded. Within moments his face appeared on the screen.

"Hey... Joe... You are back. How was the trip to the mainland?" the Commander said as he saw me.

"Not bad, actually quite relaxing." I told him. "Who is this kid that is going to be with me? Does he have any ideas why he was picked? Why was he picked anyway?" I asked.

"Well, he was picked because of a few things. First reason, he needs some experience working on the various systems onboard. Second, he is actually quite good, in fact, he is the highest in his class. Also, he has some time off from school, and he is not going to the mainland. This works out quite well actually, the last thing we need are kids running around unsupervised. He is that whale scientist's son, the older one."

"Ok, I will review his personnel file. Thanks." I told him.

"Just try not to put him or yourself in any sort of danger. I don't need his mother yelling at me about another of her sons. Once was enough." he said jokingly. An incident earlier involving a typhoon and her youngest son had put her and the Commander at odds.

"Don't worry, I don't make the same mistakes as you do. Bye" I sarcastically said to him as I shut off the screen. I picked up my PDA and headed out of my cabin. I scrolled through the personnel files until I brought up the Bates Family. I looked up the files on Jason.

Personnel file 200-063 – Jason Bates. Age 12. Boat licence, SCUBA trained. Level 12 academic.

'Looks like a perfect fit.' I thought to myself as I walked up to the door to their cabin.

The panel has a variety of lights and buttons. I pressed the one that activates the door chime. I waited for a response.

The door opened and there was Brett. He looked at me, shock, and a little scared.

"Is your brother, Jason here?" I asked.

"Yea," he said. "Jase, door" he called into the cabin as he went back into the cabin.

Jason walked into view of the door. "Yes, how can I help you" He asked as he walked closer.

"Jason, I am Joe. As I understand, you will be working with me tomorrow. What all were you advised about?" I asked.

"Uhm, not to much. I was just told that I would be doing this with you regarding the maintenance. What time tomorrow do I start? Where do you want me to meet you? What should I wear, just the regular uniform?" Jason asked me, sounding somewhat excited.

"Well, you can wear your uniform, however, I would recommend that you do have your swimsuit on underneath. I do go out and fix the various outside components. As far as when you start, well, it all depends on when I finish my morning swim." I told him.

"Ok, I could meet you at the pool. When do you start swimming there?" He asked me.

"I do not swim at the pool. I swim outside. You know those markers that are one kilometre away from the pontoon?" I asked. He nodded yes to the question. "I usually swim to at least 2 of them." I finished.

"Wow, that is 4 kilometres. How long does that normally take?" he asked me.

"About 2 hours. I start at about 7am. Do you want to join me out there?" I asked, sarcastically thinking that he would never want to do it.

"Seven A–M. Hmmm, you know what, why don't I? What should I wear?" he asked, shocking me.

I paused for a moment. "Well, since you are swimming, obviously your swimsuit. Goggles would be another thing that might be a good idea." I told him.

"Ok, I will see you at 7 am." He told me.

"Alright, see you then. Good bye." I told him and walked away as the door closed.

Part 5

I walked to the lift, thinking about a lot of things. My life will now be in the care of a teenager. I am going to still try to do my regular activities, but unfortunately now I will have a "chaperone".

I got to the lift and slid my card by the sensor. The door opened and I walked in. The door closed.

"HELEN, my cabin." I said.

" Alpha 2-1-8." the computer said back to me. I leaned on the wall of the lift as it went to the appropriate level. Within moments, the left stopped, and the computer said "Alpha 2-1-8" The door opened, and I walked out, and headed to my cabin.

I walked up to the door to my cabin, slid my ID card across the panel, and the door opened with a chime sounding as it opened. The lights turned on as I walked in.

"HELEN, Any phone messages?" I asked.

"Affirmative, there are two voice only messages, and one video message." The computer stated.

"Bring up the voice messages first." I said.

"First message" The computer said

"Hey, I guess you are out enjoying the beautiful reefs. In case you did not figure this out, this is your brother, Chris. I was wondering, since my kids have two weeks off in about a month, we were planning to visit Aunt Janey in Sidney. Do you think we could meet up somewhere? I know its like over 2000km apart, but, hey, you own some helicopters and planes. I'm sure something could be worked out. Anyway, this is costing a fortune, let me know. Bye" My brother's recording said.

He is a character. He was the class clown. He would never turn down a dare, even when most would.

"Helen, What time is it where my brother lives?" I asked.

"It is 11am this morning." The computer told me.

I scratched my head, I never could understand time zones. 'He is probably on the road. I will call him as soon as I get up.' I thought. "Helen, Remind me to call my brother tomorrow when I wake up." I said, "Next voice message"

"Hello, this is your aunt. You brother called me. He wants to meet up with you. I did inform him that you are over 2500 km away from me. He still would like to do it. When you get in, call him, and the two of you can sort out what is happening. After the two of you figure things out, let me know." My aunt's recording said.

My aunt, 15 years older than I, yet acts 15 years younger. My uncle, her husband, was killed in a military accident. She is a doctor.

"Helen, Bring up the video message" I said.

I saw Josh, from the mainland on the screen "I forgot to tell you something when you were here. One of out two-seater mini subs will be delivered to ORCA next week. Anyway, thought you might want to know. Bye."He said.

After the message was over, I put the video on Privacy, and went to bed. I was more tired than I thought, and fell asleep almost instantly.


End file.
